This is an old term that I got off of my dad. Someone who fixes their car in the driveway, their parking lot, someone elses parking lot or under a tree for shade. Lately I've found myself using alot of my spare time to replace valve seals, port and polish the heads and intake manifold. The problem is the rain! But that didnt stop me, I took the parts from two tents and completly covered a work area under my hood so that I can work on my engine in the rain. lol.. its great, even got some pix of it that I can link later. Has anyone else gone to some kind of extreame like this to work on their car? And hey, this can be topic related by letting people know that they can work on their car in the rain.

 

i too work in the rain, but have a 20' x 20' car port...... umm "service station" to work under . when helping out a friend, when they're having car trouble, it happens to always be raining.......

 

I changed the cam in my brother's GTA a few years ago literally in the gutter in front of his house (where it ended up when the old cam expired). Fortunately, it didn't rain in the 2 days it took to complete the work. New cam worked just fine, too.

I used to do motor swaps out in my driveway all the time with a cherry picker and a big tarp. Fortunately, I have better facilities now, but even without them it's possible to do excellent work.

Keeping it CLEAN is the biggest factor. That's why you don't put new rings and bearings in a motor out on a sandy beach.

 

For some reason when me or my brother do engine work we find ourselfs doing it later at night into the early hours of the morning. I've found that in addition to a spot light the craftsman alumi-light gloves work great. They have a small led on each index finger that helps light up anything you point at. But other then that, I think I'll invest in a ahem... "service station" with maybe some flood light attachments.

 

About the most desperate projects I've attempted would be:

A ring and bearing job (not thirdgen) with the with the engine in the car.

A clutch replacement in the snow on a buddies car.

Both projects were successful, I got about 2 yrs of use before my ring job started smoking again.

Would I do it again?

Shoot me if I ever get that desperate!

 

About the worst I think, (although I have a very long history, something else may come to mind!) was swapping a starter out in a Nissan truck that I had to drive 50 miles to work in about two hours! (Midnight shift!)

It was in January, pouring down rain, at a new house where there wasn't even much of a driveway yet! (LOTS of mud!).

One time that comes to mind was about 20 years ago, before cell phones. I had just pulled onto the interstate ramp when the pickup truck I was driving quit and would not start. This was March, 35 degrees, windy, and pouring down rain.

After a couple near collisions, I had my then (now ex) steer as I got out and pushed for all I was worth to get it uphill where there was a shoulder to get off the road (almost got hit a couple of times there, too).

The nearest phone was about a mile away- I had to run up and down two steep medians, cross four lanes of traffic, get to the business and call for help, then repeat in getting back to the truck. In crossing four lanes of traffic twice, I still almost got hit several more times.

I got back into the truck, cold, shivering, soaked to the skin, grateful to be in a dry place to wait for help. My ex-wife said, "I'm cold....." I had to be towed for a cracked distributor cap.

I got divorced shortly after that.

 

Toughest job -5 hours install exhaust(from cat back to rear of car)and replace water pump on a'87 buick Electra wagon in the November rain on a gravel driveway. Finished at 2am went to work at 4:45 am..Not fun!

 

I swapped my engine and tranny in rain. That was a treat.

 

I use to work in an auto parts store about 7 years ago. Well I pulled in with my 1987 fleetwood caddy. u know the one with the BAD A S S olds 307--well it was running on a whole 5 cylinders, not bad original wires with 120xxx miles. Well I changed the plugs, wires, coil, distributor cap and roter, airfilter, pvc, timmed the car, and droped the oil in a steddy downpoor. Dam my boss also helped me and we where on the clock--it was great soaked to the bone, but the car ran great
later and
gb\\rk

 

No garage here and fortunately the weather's been kind:-
Morticia was up on axle stands for two days whilst I got the correct rear wheel cylinders and brake pipes sorted out. I've changed the rear shocks and front struts, not to mention the odd oil change too

Diff.

 

I do alot of my work after I get home from work at midnight. I also work in a carport but when it rains I have some 2x4's I use to divert the water flow hehe.

 

Yea, starters are a pain sometimes. I had one that would not start if it got hot or sometimes even just warm from the engine. So on my way home in the rain I stopped by the parts store to pick up a new started. Parked, tried to start it and of course, it didnt start. So a good idea was to have it tested to see if it was the starter or something else. Easy enough? Well me and some dude from the parts store pushed the car under some roof from a closed down music store. The sky then turned green as the wind started to blow the rain in sideways but I was ok, under the car and dry. When I came back up I found that I had left my passenger door open lol... the whole interior was soaked within 5 minutes of hard rain. To make it worst the started tested to be just fine. Put it back on, it started up, keept giving me the same problem until I replaced it a few days later. pff.. tested fine, bs

 

This pic is priceless

had to do that to the quality to get it to fit

 

LOL!

You DIDat least keep the truck, right? Well. maybe not.

I had a similar problem at a toll booth in a Coupe DeVille back in about '80. Rotor fell apart (literally in pieces) right there as I was leaving the toll gate - no spark -no go. Wife was pregnant and uncomfortable but didn't complain a bit. I apparently found a more reliable year and model.

In my case, I kept the wife and sold the car (later), but can't say that I had quite as much "fun" as you evidently did. Still pretty funny, though.

 

I swapped the transmission out of a 95 eclipse in the barracks parking lot on post, took about two days total running back and forth to the junkyard (from Wahiawa to Pearl City CrazyHawaiian) it was an experience using a 2 ton jack and some ratty jackstands, When I got it out I had to swap to good gears from the new tranny into the case of the old tranny.

 

I pulled my 700r4 out and put it back in that way.

 

A couple of years ago i did a winter time engine swap in late january. I had to lie down under the car in the snow and work in the blistering cold. It was also my first time doing anything really mechanical.

The engine lasted a few months until the timing chain pooped out on me.

 

Yes. We've all had our "fun", but unfortunately this topic is sliding away from "technical" content, even though it is interesting. Sorry.